3.5 stars

Well, I have mixed feelings about this book. This is a religious parody. Some aspects of it I enjoyed very well, like the world-changing and its relevant questions that the protagonists ask. The next-to-end eighty pages were most interesting, imagining the Heaven and Hell. So hilarious this part!! However otherwise, it was quite a bit boring many times. It was hard for me every time to pick up the book to continue where I had paused. But after a few pages, things used to become interesting if one gets engrossed. Couldn't go on for too long though. I am glad the book was the size as it was. And thank goodness for that Heaven/Hell section. That part kept me going, or else I was almost on the verge of abandoning the book at 60%.

Доста не-Хайнлайновски сюжет...
В началната част има повечко от нужното размишления на главния герой, а той дори не е симпатичен (поне в първата половина на книгата)...
Все пак, хардкор-религиозността му води и до подобни забавни описания на възгледите му:
"Аз съм привърженик на научния метод. Какъвто и проблем да се разисква, верният отговор винаги е един: погледнете в Библията."
Средната част на романа става повторяема и скучновата, но последната третина оправя положението, заедно с еволюирането на главният герой!

An odd novel; Heinlein, the doyen of doyens of golden-age SF, writes what is essentially a theological novel, although buried in there is a many-worlds, universe-hopping SFnal tale. If it's not all just a hallucination anyway.

It's very odd to read a new-to-me Heinlein now, in the C21, some thirty to thirty-five years after I devoured all the Heinlein I could get. This contains some vintage themes and in some ways feels like it was a dry run for /Stranger in a Strange Land/ - it is, essentially, Heinlein forcibly blowing open the mind of a small-minded, moralistic, religious bigot and impressing upon him something of Heinlein's own libertarian, sex-positive, amoral views.

But then again, despite how unpopular many of Heinlein's views are in the modern liberal world, myself, I am largely in agreement with them, so I rather enjoyed it. A neglected RAH, well worth a read if you like his more adult stuff and are able to put yourself into his mindset or at least suspend judgement. If you feel he's dreadfully non-PC and a hoary crusty old letch, then you're not going to like this one - but then again, you might find yourself having *your* mind stretched open a bit yourself.

I'd forgotten how thoroughly unlikeable the protagonist of this book is. Ick. I also had a hard time understanding what caused him to fall in love with Marga, and even more, WTF did Marga see in him?

It's an interesting meditation on religious fundamentalism, but ultimately it strikes me as a little too facile. It was written near the end of Heinlein's career and it feels a little as if it were done by rote. There are several recycled bits from earlier works, including the obligatory reference to consensual parent/child sex. The dialogue is a bit stiff- RAH was very stingy with his contractions, and I think that makes for awkward sounding conversations.

The Farnsworth family were far and away my favorite characters. I liked the steampunky elements of the first several chapters. In the end, though, I couldn't get past my distaste for Alex. This one's not going back on the shelf. 2.5 stars.

This book is awful. I never liked Heinlein, but I found this on Junk Day and decided to give it a try. My god, does it suck. The prose is around a third-grade level and the plot couldn't be any less interesting. The thing that totally ruined it for me was that, if he's supposed to be Job, why is he given the girl of his dreams to accompany him on his interdimensional jaunts? And if washing dishes in Mexico is your idea of Hell, you are an extremely sheltered human being. I didn't even finish this shitheap, and I blame it for my lapse in reading over the past few weeks. It was my nightstand book, and instead of read it, I opted for insomnia. That's how bad this is.

This is not the first time I've read this book, not even the second. Each time I read it, I get something else out of it. I hadn't read it in years, so I picked it up for another round.

This time, I found myself looking it as both author and reader. Once again, I was reminded at how slow the beginning was. As an author, I can see areas that could have been cut to make a smoother introduction. The book continues on with a few more extraneous areas, familiar concepts, and surprise twists, until the end where it seems almost as if Heinlein himself had become fatigued with the plot. Then, BAM, switch hit!

Here I was reminded of Heinlein's literary genius. He never disappoints. By the last page, I started thinking of a few more of his treasures that I need to reintroduce myself to. Nobody spins a yarn like Heinlein.

Jenn Brink
Author of the Jessica Hart series

it was an interesting premise with Alex, the protaganist, being shifted to different realities. It started with two; neither of which was ours; so there were at least three. Then the changes became rapid and the novelty wore off. There were some side bars like Alex being on the wrong side of feminism and some of the interactions/dialogues went on too long. I was vacillating between rating it a three or four and decided if an explanation was given for the shifting realty i'd bestow four stars; if not then three. Not sure it was a satisfactory explanation but it was part and parcel of the spoof on religion.

This book is like distilled Heinlein. Women who are generally intelligent sex objects and the men who love them, slightly awkward but nonetheless charming dialogue, and a healthy smattering of really thought provoking lines.

Not a spoiler: "On reflection I realized that I was in exactly the same predicament as every other human being alive. We don't know who we are, or where we came from, or why we are here. My dilemma was merely fresher, not different.
"One thing (possibly the only thing) I learned in seminary was to face calmly the ancient mystery of life, untroubled by my inability to solve it. Honest priests and preachers are denied the comforts of religion; instead they must live with the austere rewards of philosophy."

This is why I love Heinlein. I have to admit, though, this book feels kind of dated.

Para los seguidores y lectores acérrimos del decano, es sabido que su última etapa fue la más floja, con algunas redundancias del ABC Heinleniano, unos pastiches de conceptos interesantes, pero algo vagos en su desarrollo, o más bien desequilibrados, y excesos en ciertos aspectos. Job, no es una excepción a lo mencionado. Aunque, por otro lado, resulta una lectura divertida, ágil, con encanto y un argumento con gancho; como todo lo del maestro.
Aquí nuestro particular héroe, mundano e imperfecto, es Graham, que se encuentra de viaje en la Polinesia para conocer los rituales del lugar. Al regresar a su camarote, se alude a él como Alex Hergensheir, por lo cual se verá en la obligación de averiguar qué está sucediendo a su alrededor…ya que el mundo que él conocía, no es el mismo que ahora se le presenta ante sus ojos. Su ‘camarera’ personal: Margrethe (la partener de la obra), se afanará a ayudarle, tras rendirse a sus pies, y ambos vivirán entre varios mundos, intentando sacar en claro la situación; ya no del porqué del cambio de identidad del protagonista; sino del frecuente desplome de realidades y conexión con otras...mucho más serio de lo que acontece.

El transfondo de la obra toca el paralelismo y solapación dimensional (ciencia ficción), con la importancia de la teología en ello (de ahí su nombre: Job. De hecho, en cada capítulo, hay previo un pasaje de la biblia que casa con este presente), temática recurrente en sus últimas obras. A raíz de su premisa argumental y planteamiento- nudo, Heinlein introduce al lector en un sin parar de situaciones y aventuras de carretera de ambos protagonistas, en búsqueda de la verdad y la fuente de la solución. Con ello, el escritor hace gala de su crítica exhaustiva en varios campos, como: el esclavismo moderno (cuando crean una deuda con su país rescatador, que los envía a trabajar para terceros), el racismo a la inversa (en el primer trabajo de los personajes principales en Méjico), el opaco y doble lenguaje social ( con una acusada tendencia a las reflexiones sexuales y sus protocolos, si bien, con acierto respecto a la fina línea de los protocolos, pero cierta desmesura a la calentura mental), la privaciones Americanas respecto al nudismo y su naturaleza ( uno de su tema favoritos, incluso en su época dorada : “Amo de títeres” o “ Puerta al verano” , por ejemplo), la falta de libertad y censura publica, hacia la burocracia y los derechos constitucionales para refugiados, entre otros, así como reflexiona acerca de un nuevo Armagedón y la razón de éste, cuadrándola con la realidad y las escrituras sagradas.

Pese a que su desarrollo es equilibrado, al seguir una línea marcada que no decrece en ritmo ni tensión, la novela se torna en ocasiones repetitiva y por ello, redundante. Además, hay temas que se antojan “metidos con calzador”, como en un breve pasaje en el cual conocen a una familia, y de ahí salen tríos y rituales lujuriosos, eso sí, sin mucho detalle al respecto.
Por otra parte, contiene mensajes muy válidos y citas geniales…destellos, los seguía conservando:
“no sabemos quiénes somos, ni de dónde venimos, ni porqué estamos aquí. Mi dilema, simplemente, era más reciente, no distinto”
” Ed sostenía que ningún hombre puede practicar la moderación hasta que no ha dado pleno curso a la inmoderación…de otro modo, cuando la tentación se abra camino, no sabrá cómo manejarla!


Asi pues, “Job” es un sin parar de idas y venidas por trabajos de hosteleria medio esclavistas, contiendas sexuales, divagaciones filosóficas a medios gas y comidas a tuti plen. Un poco como una road movie, con su trasfondo científico-teológico apocalíptico, algo disparatada, excesiva en más de una ocasión, pero distraída y efectiva como lectura; cosa que perduraba en el maestro hasta en su época más débil literariamente hablando. Siendo no recomendable para principiantes del decano, pero si para sus estudiosos, conserva la esencia Heinleiniana, la de las ciencias sociales y la solución de su entramado con el desarrollo:
"Nada termina nunca, nada es perfecto nunca, pero la raza de los hombres recibe una y otra vez una nueva oportunidad de hacerlo mejor que en la anterior ocasión. Una y otra vez, sin final”

I don't know why it took me so long to give Robert Heinlein a try, but he was an amazing writer. This book is almost as much a masterpiece as was Stranger in a Strange Land, but it is not nearly as appealing to as many people.

As a pure work of literary merit this book is put together as well as anything else in the English language. I did not find myself feeling that he repeated painful sentence structures. I did not notice words being used that were far above the level of others around them. I did not see any issue with the dialogue or description. It is VERY WELL written.

The plot is outrageous and incredibly interesting. It seemed as though I was guessing as to what was really happening the entire time. I had theory after theory to match the main character's theories at the same time. Even though I did not know where the story was going, I found myself fully enthralled the entire time.

I personally loved this book, but I feel many will not. The biggest issue is this is a very religious book. The last quarter or so of the book is so drenched in theology that if you have not read the Bible or at least spent years attending Bible study, I doubt you will get the full effect of many of the conversations. But, you need to be aware that on top of the very strong theology feel there is a lot of what many Christians would feel is outright blasphemy. For anyone who is willing to take the Bible and challenge the popular view of the stories and characters within will do fine with this book. But, if you are someone who is easily offended when people challenge your religious beliefs, then this book is not for you!

The key to understanding this book lies in the subtitle, "A Comedy of Justice." It exactly mirrors the subtitle of James Branch Cabell's breakthrough best seller, "Jurgen." And the plot is similar. Dig deeper, and you will discover that Cabell was Heinlein's favorite author, and that all of Heinlein's later works, from "Stranger in a Strange Land" onward, were attempts to mimic Cabell"s 18-volume "Biography of the Life of Manuel," of which "Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice" was not the best, merely the best-known.

So how did Heinlein do? Well, Cabell repeatedly insisted that he wrote only for his own pleasure. Heinlein, in these later books, seemed to be indulging in a similar private obsession. If that is the case, he wouldn't have cared much what we think.

That being said, "Jurgen" is a far, far better book than "Job: A Comedy of Justice." Cabellian irony fit his mythic cosmos-building and droll story constructs. Heinlein may have aimed for irony, but his personal philosophy rubbed against the grain of that emprise. He was, in the end, a pretty straight-forward guy, if a nudist and all-around crank. This book is one of those very odd failures that may haunt unwary readers for reasons hard to grasp. The haunting, I think, is due entirely to the strange and unlikely presence of the shade of James Branch Cabell.

Много хубава и интересна сатирична книга! Робърт Хайнлайн умело осмива Библията и религиозния фанатизъм, описвайки фантастичните приключения на свещеник в паралелни светове...



„Бог е Всеблаг, Всемъдър и Всемогъщ, но как се съчетава логически всичко това? Този проблем винаги е бил костелив орех за теологията, дори йезуитите си бяха счупили зъбите в него.“